Top 5 Questions to Ask Yourself If You Don’t Think You've Been Indoctrinated

Here are five questions to ask yourself to identify if you have been indoctrinated. While these questions all refer to religion, they may also be applicable to other beliefs such as political views or your understanding of an event.

1- Did you believe in Santa Claus at the time you accepted your religion?

2- Were you taught only one religion and that’s the one you've accepted?

3- Were you told you must accept your religion on faith and that faith is all you need?

4- Have you been discouraged from learning things which might challenge your religion as it might be Satan trying to deceive you?

5- Have you read the entirety of your holy book?

If you answered YES to any of #1-4 and NO to #5, then you HAVE been indoctrinated. If you care whether your beliefs are true, I urge you to examine them as critically as you would if they weren't your own. If you don’t care whether your beliefs are true or will only look for evidence to confirm them rather than looking for evidence against them – then don’t waste your time. If a belief is correct, you won’t be able to find evidence to disprove it. However, if you look only for evidence to confirm your belief - you will be able to justify believing whatever you want.

If you chose not to challenge the claims of your religion - please don’t teach others your religion or vote in elections. You also waive your right to mock other religions no matter how ridiculous they may seem.

Why Republicans Didn’t Celebrate MLK’s “I Have a Dream Speech” as Democrats Did

Yesterday, August 28, 2013, was the 50^th Anniversary of Martin Luther King's famous "I Have a Dream Speech". Many liberal/Democratic Facebook pages celebrated the speech, but on popular Republican pages such as Being Conservative, Mr. Conservative and Conservative Daily there was little to no mention of the speech. 

However, Positively Republican made a post encouraging people to watch the speech, but it didn't go over too well. It didn't get nearly the amount of "like's" as other posts on the page and in the comments many called Dr. King a "plagiarists", "a racist", along with a comment that said, "My family will never sit down and listen to King a communist backed negro… Stop being ashamed for being white!" (this comment sadly received many likes).

This was odd since Republicans often like to claim MLK as their own. But as I have said before, "Republicans care about the political label MLK identified himself with - Liberals care about the rights MLK fought for." Yesterday showed this to be accurate.

Republicans get upset when they are called racist, and rightfully so for those who aren't (and many aren't). If Republicans are not racist, then what possible reason would they have to not want to celebrate this famous civil rights speech?

The only conclusion for ignoring this speech is that the GOP didn't want to anger the racists who identify as Republican. The GOP likes to claim moral superiority, but there is nothing moral about choosing not to celebrate equal rights for fear of losing the support of racists. To not speak up against racism seems to be just as immoral as racism itself.

Some may say it's unfair to judge people based on what they don't talk about and to some degree that is true, but we can understand what people really value based on what they support and celebrate. The fact Republicans didn't celebrate MLK's speech speaks volumes. Let's hope voters remember this next time Republican leaders try to claim moral superiority.

The Root of the GOP’s Problem

We often hear from Republicans that they need to improve their message in order to better connect with minorities and women, and the GOP is struggling to figure out this new message. Texas senator, Ted Cruz suggested recently that Republicans just need to “stand up and win the argument”, as if they haven’t already tried that. But is changing their message enough to turn the party around? I don't think so. There are many issues with the Republican Party’s positions, but there is no need to mention any of them because their positions are only a result of the party’s real problem.

In Carl Sagan’s book “The Demon-Haunted World” he wrote, “Those who have something to sell, those who wish to influence public opinion, those in power, a skeptic might suggest, have a vested interest in discouraging skepticism.”

The GOP may claim to be skeptical, but they have confused skepticism for denialism. Denying reality and creating conspiracy theories is not skepticism despite what they may think. Skepticism is the approach that requires all information to be well supported by evidence - creating theories based on no evidence and demanding others to prove it wrong is not skepticism, yet this is what Republicans continue to do.

Science is a way of gaining knowledge through observation, experimentation and carefully examining evidence - it is absolutely mind blowing that we have leaders who are against this way of thinking. This is the root of the GOP's problem - they discourage critical thinking and are anti-science.

The GOP is against critical thinking because they prefer their own traditional beliefs over reality - in order to hold these beliefs, they must deny any facts that would undermine their beliefs. Many Republican politicians believe God is on their side and if information disputes the Bible then it must be wrong. The religious right believes evidence and reason is “Satan’s” way of testing their faith, and they aren't interested in considering that they might be wrong.

Republicans wouldn't be struggling if it weren't for the growth of critical thinking and atheism in the US; it’s difficult to manipulate voters through their religion when more people are questioning religious claims. This puts the GOP and especially Republicans who haven’t completely denied science and critical thinking in a tough position. If they speak up against the party’s irrational views - they won’t get elected. If they pander to irrational beliefs – moderate and semi-rational Republicans won’t vote for them.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has even said, “We've got to stop being the stupid party.” But he doesn't understand that as long as the Republican Party sticks to their current positions – the party will be dependent on ignorant voters.

Republicans can continue to talk about how they need to improve their message, but the problem is that they don’t really want to change their message. They like who they are and even if they do change their message they won’t mean it. Engaged voters are smart enough to know that changing their message is only an attempt to manipulate them for their vote. Because let’s be honest, when we hear Republicans say, “we need to improve our message” they are really saying, "we need to do a better job manipulating the public by telling them what they want to hear even though we don’t really believe it." If they believed it, they wouldn't need to change their message - because it would have been their message from the start.

If Republicans aren't going to embrace critical thinking, their only hope is that the public doesn't either.